Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Merry?
Births per year, rank history and how many Merries are alive today.
Merry (female) is a rare spelling of the girls' name Mary in England and Wales, ranked 5892nd in 2024 and given to 3 babies. This spelling of the name peaked in 2020, when 6 babies were given the name, the 3447th most popular that year.
Across all spellings of the name, the Mary you are most likely to meet is around 81 years old. Half of all Maries born in England and Wales are between 71 and 87, and there are at least 250,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 females, there's roughly a 55% chance that at least one of them will be called Mary.
How many babies are named Merry each year?
Includes all spellings: Merry, Mary. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
Where does the Merry spelling rank?
Where does the Mary spelling rank?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Merry most popular?
The most popular form of the name, Mary, peaked in 1904, when around 32,400 babies in England and Wales were given the name. The Merry spelling itself peaked in 2020, with 6 babies.
How many people are called Merry?
At least 250,000 people named Merry in any spelling born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Merry?
Most living Merries are between 71 and 87; the most common age is about 81.
Is Merry becoming more or less popular?
Declining: numbers have been falling in recent years.